Havoc Ch. 3, 4, 5

Chapter 3
Plan

Le Pizzeria was busier than normal that night. Perfect for doing undercover resistance work.

The pizza place was a large, square building with enough seating for an entire high school graduation party, two baseball teams, and one little boy’s birthday party. And it STILL had extra seating. I shook my head in awe as I brought down six pizzas to the awaiting baseball teams, meanwhile returning to the high schoolers to ask whether or not they wanted more soda or pizza and whatever else. The guys replied drunkenly that they wanted more Hawaiian Pizza. Scribbling the order down, I returned to the counter and checked my watch. Seven o’clock. Fifteen minutes until show time. Jittery as ever, I called back for another Hawaiian pizza. I cashed in some customers, tallying up their order and allowing them to leave without getting a receipt. I didn’t blame them. I wanted just as much to escape the hellhole as soon as possible.

I glanced at my watch again. Seven o’ three. I sighed, accepting the high school’s Hawaiian and serving it to them. I glanced over to my fellow worker, Tish, as she tried to calm down the young boys as they whined and cried out for more Mountain Dew. Tish ran her fingers through her thick brown curls, repeating, “There is no more. Would you like Sprite instead?”

“NO!” the little boy whined. “I WANT MOUNTAIN DEW!”

“Uh…” Tish eyed me, a pleading look in her eyes. I smiled, walking over to her. She whispered to me, “Help me, please!”

“Sure thing,” I murmur into her ear. Then I take her spot and scream, “HEY! THERE’S NO MOUNTAIN DEW LEFT!”

The boy stared at me with wide eyes, as did all of his guests. The mother, who had been pointedly ignoring her bratty son, stared at me too. Le Pizzeria was covered in utter silence. The high schoolers stopped talking, the baseball team yelling, and the birthday boy whining. I glared him down. In a softer voice, “Sprite is much more hyper-making. It gives you a lot of energy!”

“Yeah! I want Sprite!” the boy agreed, and all the guests started chanting for Sprite. I turned to Tish, whose mouth was wide open. “How—How did you DO that?”

“Ah, I take babysitting as another job whenever I can,” I replied. “But don’t forget: You have Sprite to serve.” I glanced at my watch. “And I have a counter to attend to.”

With that, I left Tish to finish her job. I walked past the bathroom to where uniforms were stored. I sneaked one apron into my overly large front pocket. Next, I trotted back to where Madi, Grace, Tyler, Ryan, Lyndi, and Eliz were to order a pizza. I glanced at my watch. Seven-fourteen. I sighed, putting my elbow on the counter and my head in my hand. I drummed my fingers as I impatiently waited for my pals’ appearance.

Waiting for the exact timing is not as easy as it sounds when you talk about it.

I sighed again, my eyes drooping for the third time that evening. I snapped them open, knowing that I had to stay awake in order to execute the plan successfully. If my comrades died because of me not on the alert, I couldn’t live with myself. There would be too much pain involved.

The high schoolers came up and paid for their orders, turning and leaving. As did the baseball teams. The noise dwindled considerably. Now I would be able to hear Eliz when she spoke the signal. Funny how everything worked out.

I glanced at my watch for the umpteenth time. Seven-fifteen, the face read. I shot up, watching Madi and Grace walk in laughing, and Tyler, Ryan, Eliz, and Lyndi seated themselves at a table. Madi came up to me, a wide grin on her face. Her white teeth flashed. “Hi, there, Rebecca! Nice to see you. Could I get a half-pepperoni, half-cheese pizza?”

“Yeah, coming right up,” I answered. Madi smiled again, and Grace’s hard eyes met mine before they both turned and joined the other three sitting at the table.

I blinked, tucking one strand of hair behind my ear. I shouted, “Pizza, half-cheese, half-pepperoni, on the double!” I received a holler back in reply, and a newbie to the kitchen flew through the double doors to deliver it to me. I nodded a thank you to him, and the teen, black hair, tall, maybe about fifteen years old, rushed back to take out the next order. I smirked to myself, pulling the box open and slipping in the apron, along with my nametag, right next to it. Closing and latching the box as best as I could, I held the pizza high on my palm and walked it back to Grace and the others. I placed it in front of Madi. “Enjoy, and sorry about the noise,” I purred, just like any good employee.

I straightened, trotting to the “Employees Only” room. Pulling off the hideous apron, I hung it on my peg, ruffling out my hair in the process. The cherry red curls hung loosely just above my shoulders, molding to my face. I reached deep into my cargo pants pocket, producing an oversized shuriken. Brendan had his sources with blacksmithing, and I constantly showed him my gratitude whenever I used it. I hoped he and his group would do well.

Holding the shuriken in my right hand made me feel power once again. The place I held it was covered in a thin wrapping of cloth, so the sharp edges would not cut my palm wide open, and it extended out to the center, where three slightly shorter points grew from the center. It was silver, ringed with black dots, with a blood red star in the center. It gave the deadly weapon a girly touch. Plus, a bloody red flower was my mark. Everyone in the entire resistance knew that.

I pressed my ear to the door. I could hear the murmur of other customers and Tish ringing up the boy’s birthday party. I wheezed out through my teeth, relieved now that I could distinguish the laugher of Tyler and Ryan clearly. I played with my shuriken in my hand, feeling the grooves easily with my nimble fingers. Placing my hand on the clothed part once again, I pressed my ear harder as I desperately attempted to catch whatever noise I could find.

“Hey, Rebecca, could you clean up table four?” Tish asked my impostor.

“Yeah,” Madison replied, imitating my voice flawlessly. “Hold on a sec.”

Listening hard, my ear detected footsteps in the hallway. I cringed, glancing around for a place to hide in case the person was Tish. As far as Tish knew, Rebecca was outside cleaning table four, not holding an illegal weapon in her hand and hiding inside the “Employees Only” room waiting for a call. I bit my lip hard, tasting blood through my teeth.

Aha! The equipment closet! My lifesaver stood across the room, flanked by miscellaneous cleaning items and whatever other junk was needed for holiday decoration. I dashed up to it, shoving the tip of my shuriken through the lock. Moving it around in various directions, I managed to pick the lock. I threw it to the ground in my haste. It clanged horridly loud. I tore open the door, leaping in and slamming it. The more expensive kitchen cutlery and ingredients shifted as my newly added bulk pushed deeper inside. When I settled into what was a slightly uncomfortable position, I waited to see who the intruder might be.

Peeking through the closet door, I spied Madison walking inside to pick up cleaning supplies. She bent down, keeping her face away from the door. Breathing out, I began to move when Tish walked in. I held my breath, my lungs struggling for air, my brain refusing to let my mouth go. I swear my face was turning red when Tish asked, “Rebecca, seriously, how did you handle those kids like that?”

Crap. Hadn’t thought Tish could be so…troublemaking.

“Well, uh…” Madison’s imitation of me slipped as she thought of a reply. “Uh, like I said, I like babysitting…a lot. I also babysit little brats like him much of the time.”

When Madi wasn’t impressing the heck out of me, she was busy making me worship her talents. Like I was doing right now, silently, inside a cramped and dark equipment closet.

Tish nodded. “I see. Well, I’m turning in the for evening.” She hung her apron up. “G’Night.”

“’Night,” Madison answered. Tish smiled, closing the door behind her. I waited fifteen seconds to make sure Tish wouldn’t come back. With that done, I let my breath go, pushing open the closet door. I dropped to the ground, kicking the door closed with my boot. Breathing in gasps of air, I stared at Madi with awe. “How—did—I ever—survive—without—you?” I wheezed.

Madi smiled, holding out her hand. “I don’t really know. Maybe it was because you had Elizabeth...or Grace.” At this she smiled knowingly. “But I don’t really think that she’s as talkative as most people say.”

“Agreed,” I murmured, taking her hand and struggling up. “But right now, I need to listen.”

“Go ahead, I’m going out again to clean, anyway,” Madi said, holding up a bottle of Lysol and a cleaning rag. “Good luck.” She reached up and itched her head under the impressive red wig, closing the door behind her.

I pressed my ear again to listen.

At first, there was nothing. I slowed my panting, making my breathing as quiet as possible. The music and clatter of dishes outside was almost unnerving in its simplicity. I groaned inwardly—waiting took a lot out of me—and I began to tune out…

Screams. Glass shattering. And then, “‘Blast’ it! The Parmesan is out!”

The signal! I blew down the door in my thirst for excitement, for action. When I arrived into the main body of the restaurant, Tyler and Ryan were shooting guns behind a table, Eliz and Grace behind another. Lyndi was nowhere to be seen; I assumed that she was conjuring up some sort of spell that would blow the pants off of anybody else. Grace was focusing on levitating some shards of glass while Elizabeth pointed to various cronies’ heads and bashed them together with her magic. They molded into each other, making them immobile and allowing Tyler and Ryan to make a few kills. Madison had torn off her wig and apron, blasting at the monsters with her BB gun. Her aim was fatally perfect.

I ran up, crouching behind her. Madison winked, still shooting. “Get ready. You might as well protect Grace while she focuses, and try not to prick yourself on glass while you go.”

Nodding, I peered above the countertop, racing along the side. I stole a glance at the cronies that were attacking us.

The monsters streamed into Le Pizzeria, all sharply lime green in the dim lighting, making them easy to spot. Out of their large, agape mouths dripped slime that coated the shattered dishes and pizza pieces on the floor thickly, making them and the floor glow a sickly greenish color. Their eyes were nothing but empty black pits, and their nostrils two black slits just above their mouths. The cronies’ bodies were nothing but moving slime, and every step taken left a trail of goop. Large hands tried to block Madi’s, Ryan’s, and Tyler’s shots, but to no avail. A few fell right where they stood, melting into the cracks in the ground. Madi shifted weight, aiming for next monster’s eyes. Cronies’ only weak spots were the eyes or nostrils, but since the eyes were a lot bigger, they were easier to hit. Everything else merely sank into the slime and whooshed around grossly.

I rolled to where Eliz and Grace were using their magic. I panted, crawling to where Grace focused. Her eyes were closed and two fingers were at her left temple, while her other hand guided the shards of glass into the eyes of the cronies. They howled in complaint, melting and seeping back into the wide open, green and glowing fissure with which they came.

I let fly my shuriken, and it sliced into one of the monster’s eyes, cutting cleanly into its head. The shuriken flew back to me, and I caught it expertly, letting fly once again. I rolled as Grace shot more glass at the increasing cronies, ducking when one of Tyler’s shots nearly got me in the shoulder. Catching the shuriken again, I darted up to where one of the monsters reached towards Grace, cutting off its arm and then stabbing the black pit where it saw. The crony howled, oozing past my shoes. I picked one shoe up, grimacing at the traces of slime it left.

The cronies had increased in amount—which wasn’t too good—but were soon diminished when a giant ball of bright green crashed into them, smaller balls of magic exploding on contact. Soon there were only a few cronies left. I looked to where Lyndi stood, magicking another bunch of balls. I grinned, thanking Lyndi for her knock-your-socks-off magic.

Glancing up, I narrowly dodged another blow, stabbing the crony in the nostril. This time, the monster fell ON me, and I shook myself desperately. The goop held me down. I raised my hand through the sludge, releasing my shuriken. It flew through the air, slicing into two cronies’ eyes. Ryan called, “Nice shot!” and then, “Behind you!”

Whirling, I rammed my body into the crony that attempted to grab Grace. It was exactly like flying through water. When I hit the ground, gasping for air and floundering to get the goop off of me, I spied a dark shadow hanging out on one of the roof’s metal planks. It held shiny strings tied around its fingers, with a red mouth and red eyes. The fingers moved in quick and jerky movements, matching those of the cronies. My eyes widened with realization. I bellowed, “HEY! The Controller’s up there!”

Elizabeth re-directed her attention at the Controller, wrapping it in invisible bonds. Almost instantly, the cronies melted, but not before two nearby managed to melt on me. I struggled, fighting for a breath inside the bright green muck, but to no avail. I slipped, landing on my front in a face-plant. It started dragging me to the fissure. I scrabbled for a hold, anything, when I spied my shuriken lying on the ground nearby. I grabbed onto it, digging one of the spikes into the ground. It drove through the tiling of Le Pizzeria, throwing up pieces of tile and dirt as it—and me—was dragged slowly downhill to where the fissure opened. I fought to gain headway, but the goop held on tight—it stuck onto my clothing, my skin, my shoes, my hair.
My head broke through the muck, and I breathed in deep. I yelled out for help, but everyone else was concentrating on the Controller. Ryan and Tyler were both running around it, tying it to a chair with duct tape and rope, and Elizabeth kept up her steady flow of magic for the invisible bonds. Grace was focused on her truth spells, forming intricate patterns with her finger in the air. Lyndi had her eyes closed, her hands balled up with magic.

“HELP!” I shouted. The fissure was three feet from me now. My shoe came over the opening. The slime was faster here, flowing past the edge of the earth. The sweet, sweet earth. I screamed again as my legs followed my foot. Now I was hanging by my shuriken, with only my torso and arms to go. I was panicking.

“SOMEBODY!” I screeched.

A hand grabbed mine. I gripped both it and my shuriken harder. The weapon sank lower into the ground, and the hand pulled. I struggled onto the ground, and was dragged from the slime. I stopped moving. I realized I had my eyes closed. I opened them up, looking into those of Madison. She was panting. I gasped, panting harder. I wheezed, “Like I said: How did I ever survive without you?”

Madi nodded, still panting hard.

Chapter 4
Ruin

“You okay?”

“Yeah, we’re all fine here. I am covered in slime, as well as Madison, but other than that, nothing too bad.”

“And Le Pizzeria?”

“My boss will have to pay a big wedge of cash to fix this place up. There’s muck everywhere. You can practically hear it oozing downhill.”

“Gross! Anything else to report?”

“Grace is nearly done with the Controller. It’s trying to worm out of the restraints that Tyler and Ryan did, but Eliz has her magical bindings under control. That’s a good sign, I think.”

“Hmmm. Well, in a few minutes we’re going to have another attack, this time with Maria’s group. I’ll have to be waiting on call if anything happens. In the meantime, why don’t you guys clean up things around there? When you’re done, all of you can return and report at headquarters.”

“Right. I’ll see to it that happens.”

“Thanks, Rebecca. Be sure to make sure there’s no more cronies in the vicinity.”

“Gotcha. Over and out.”

“Talk to you soon.”

I flipped closed the cell phone in my hand. Looking from it to the buildings across the street, I was near-blinded by the streaks of lightning. My eyes flitted over the features of the buildings, the various restaurants and the occasional grocery store. It was surprising that economy ran as well here in Denver than it did before. I was stunned beyond comprehension.

Of course, before the Serpent and its cronies came from the deeper reaches of the Earth, everything was peaceful. Now, it was a darker era, a place where nobody was safe, nobody could be completely trusted...It was darkness indeed.

All humanity rested on the resistance. And the resistance rested on humanity.

The scales were being tipped on the latter.

I shivered, rubbing my left arm. Slime that had dried there flaked off in sheets. I grimaced, flinging my fingers as more trails of slime issued from them. My upper lip bared my teeth in disgust. “Ew!” I complained. Lyndi laughed at me, pointing as she did so. I stuck my tongue out at her, but that just sent her into harsher stitches of laughter. It wall she could do to stop.

“WHAT?” Grace shouted abruptly. Lyndi glanced over, her lips slightly parted in a silly expression. I looked up, slimy shuriken at the ready. My shoe slid three feet from where it’d been before, creating a small trench within the bitter, garbage smelling sludge. Gritting my teeth, I managed to skate like a pro across the slime trail to where Grace was glaring at the Controller. Its red eyes were squinted, and its red mouth answered, “Yes, Master has planned to attack this city tonight.” Then it added spitefully, with a glance at me, “Maybe it might pick some of you up.” It cackled, its whiny voice hitting an octave higher than it should have.

Grace slapped the black skin of the Controller. Her hand left white marks upon its skin. The horrid red mouth frowned. “I have given all you need. Let me go now.”

“Shut up, Controller,” Grace coldly answered. “I still have questions for you.” Her eyes narrowed, letting her glare shine right through the Controller’s spiteful act. “The Serpent is attacking where and when?”

“I’m not saying.”

“Answer now.” Grace’s gaze intensified. Her hand twitched. “Answer me now.”

“I—” the Controller began, but stopped when Grace’s hand rose menacingly. Words tumbled from his mouth now. “Master hasn’t decided on timing, but his place is natural: Scheels, where the last attack is to take place. Your protectors there are watching over your best conversationalist; surely you would think that we were on the dot with that?”

“Why is the Serpent planning on doing this tonight?”

“Because Master knows that the resistance is working on something else. Master knows better than most, indeed.” The Controller struggled once again. Elizabeth’s hand tightened. Her eyes were a glowing blue right now. The Controller grunted with the tighter bonds. Eliz’s eyes narrowed slightly with concentration. Then she murmured, “It’s dying…”

“What?!” Grace practically screamed at her. “What do you mean?”

“It’s…killing itself on the inside…” Eliz whispered. The blue light shining from her eyes dimmed, and the dropped her hands. The Controller wriggled again, looser than before. The red holes that were his eyes and mouth brightened. Soon red beams shot from his opaque, black body. The Controller breathed hard and fast. I realized with a stunned expression what was happening.

“GET DOWN NOW!” I bellowed, tackling Madi and taking Grace and Elizabeth down with me. Lyndi took shelter behind a shard of the ceiling, rolling along the ground. Tyler and Ryan dive-rolled, ending up a few feet away. They scooted behind a table, Tyler clinging to his gun in case anything attacked him.

The atmosphere changed. Suddenly I was on the sun: the heat and brightness felt very real, very hot, and very bright. I squinted, my sticky hair blowing past my face. I struggled for a breath in the increasing pressure. Closing my eyes again, I clung to Madi, Elizabeth, and Grace, burying my face in Grace’s shoulder. My ears exploded with the sound of the earth shattering away from my body…


The land is a great spire of black rock, with a single red building standing at the top of the spire. From it slithers a massive green body, and it slithers down the spire, red eyes fixed on mine. A pink tongue twitches from its lips. I try to scream, but my lips never separate; my eyes remain glued to the Serpent’s. I struggle, but find that I am bound by chains, and they rub painfully against my wrists and ankles. I realize that am seated in some sort of chair. I shake my head, not wanting this to happen.
The Serpent arrives to me at last. With its quiet, soothing voice it purrs to me,
“I was wondering when you would arrive.”


“Nngh…” I groaned. I shook my head, coughing. I felt something move from under me. Grunting, Grace pushed herself up onto hands and knees, supporting my weight as well. My legs dragged on the ground as she crawled a few feet forward. She growled to me, “Move it. I know you’re awake, you lazy bum.”

“Well, I know that I protected you, you strong person.” However, I rolled off of her, landing in a push-up. I sighed, letting myself drop. I heard mutters and complaints behind me as Madi managed to rise to her knees. She shook her head, putting her fingers to her temples. Her trembling voice pierced the thin cloud of silence. “Wh-What happened?”

“I’m guessing we exploded,” Ryan’s voice answered her. He and Tyler appeared through a thick cloud of dust and smoke, both of them a little more worse for wear. Tyler was gripping tightly onto a pistol’s handle, on finger on the trigger. His hand was trembling. Lyndi appeared from the shard of ceiling, dust covering her hair and skin in a thick blanket. She shook herself, tripping and landing on the floor. “Ow!” she said loudly. “Stupid floor!” She rose, dusting herself off again.

Ryan offered me a hand, which I took. He dragged me to my feet, doing so again with Grace. When Ryan offered Madi his hand, however, she refused, closing her eyes and massaging her temples. “Owwie. I really think I hit a nerve…”

“Neurological damage is obvious; if you’ve gotten some, I cannot sense it,” Grace murmured. “And you know perfectly well what I can sense and what I can’t.”

“We all know all too well, Grace,” Tyler replied. “You and your sensory. ‘Be afraid. Be VERY afraid,’ according to you.”

“Agreed,” I said, leaning into Ryan. My hand searched inside my lower left pocket, coming up with nothing. My eyes widened with fear.

“Crap.” I righted myself. “Where’d my shuriken go?”

“Who could see through this smoke and—”

“It’s over there,” Grace interjected, pointing to the east of her.

“—rubble,” Tyler finished. He stared incredulously at Grace, who shrugged. Lyndi murmured curses of amazement under her breath, her wide eyes growing still wider. I dashed through the dust, coughing as I went. Feeling along the ground, something sharp and metal-like came to my fingertips. I picked it up, gripping my shuriken with all my strength. I pushed through the smoke again, coming to where Madison knelt. I sighed, placing my shuriken inside my pocket. “Don’t know what I would do without you, Grace.”

You would do nothing, nothing at all,” Grace whispered menacingly, shaking her fingers in a ghostly way. “You would be haunted by my voice every night, and you could do nothing about it…” she said in a ghostly voice. I gasped in mock fear. We giggled to each other, which ended in coughing. The smoke was thickening.

“We should go—go and help the others with the—Serpent,” I said, coughing in mid-sentence. “If Jackson and everybody else are already under the attack, they might be too scrambled up to protect who really needs protecting.”

“Right.” Madison scrabbled around for her gun, her eyes still closed. Her hand closed around the handle, and she brought it up to her knees. Swiftly, and still with her eyes closed, she changed the ammo, tossing the nearly empty ammo cartridge away. It landed somewhere in the smoke with a light crackle. Madi stroked the side of her BB, and the shiny metal seemed to glisten even more. Lyndi used her magic to smooth her hair back, for it had slipped out of her ponytail in places. She held up a shard of the windows, gazing at her reflection. Satisfied, she tossed the shard away. Grace took out a pair of keys, hitting a button with her thumb. A beeping sound came from the keys. Abruptly, the smoke blew away from the ruins of Le Pizzeria, revealing a sleekly-painted black Convertible. It stopped on a dime, and as I looked closer, it seemed to be battery-powered, very rare in war times. My mouth dropped, as I was flabbergasted. Slowly, my head cranked to face Grace, who grinned wolfishly at me. She shook the keys, and they made a jangling noise.

“It was gift from Dad—you know he has his resources,” Grace grinned good-naturedly. “When I turned sixteen last year, he thought that since I was ‘working so hard’ that I deserved a little nice gadget.” She tossed the keys into the air again, catching them by the metal ring in the center. It landed on her index finger with one last jangle before settling to a crevice by her knuckle.

Nobody moved or spoke for a few moments. All but Grace’s and my eyes were stuck to the car. Next my head cranked to face the car again. My mouth shut with a light snap while my hand slowly raised. “I call shotgun,” I said.

Chapter 5
Casualty

The Convertible screeched to a stop in front of the burning Scheels. All hell had broken loose; fire screamed from the ceiling, and some of the famous sports store had caved in. Gunshots sounded, followed by the shrill dinging of magic balls meeting their targets. Bright lights glowed amidst the smoke and flame. I leaped from the car, grabbing my shuriken from my pocket and sprinting to the part that’d caved in.

Brendan and Grayson, from the safety of a large chunk of brick, were shooting at cronies, both hitting the beasts with deadly aim. Brendan glanced my way, half-grinning. “This is the most fun I’ve had all day,” he told me, re-loading his gun. He shot again. He turned around, breathing hard. Grayson took his place, shooting again. I crouched next to them, yelling, "Want some help?"

“That would be nice,” Grayson replied, practically yelling above the sounds of the gunshots, “though I think Brendan and I have it handled.”

“Great…” I paused. “Where are the others?”

“Riley, Jordan, Aimee, Alex, and Zach went after Jackson; the rest went with Maria to fight off the Serpent,” Brendan wiped sweat from his brow as he spoke. “Our group came here as this side caved in. The Controller Jordan scared told us that the Serpent had planned to attack here, so we killed the thing and headed off at full speed in Gabbie’s Hovercar that she managed to ‘borrow’ from a ‘friend.’”

“Interesting…” My finger came to my lips. “Our Controller exploded on us after telling us about the Serpent.” I grinned. “Grace was furious.”

“I’ll bet,” Brendan said. “I swear that woman is going to kill me with her eyes one of these days.”

I smiled, rising. I let fly my shuriken. Tyler and Ryan passed by, re-loading their guns and running into the smoke. Grace, Madi and Eliz hid behind the brick, nodded to me, and charged off in the opposite direction. My shuriken flew through the air to me, returning from its latest kill, and I caught it easily.

“Has the Serpent done all this?”

“It opened two fissures at once; I can only imagine what it did to wherever it came from,” Grayson answered. He and Brendan switched shooting duty. Grayson was panting, sweat dripping down the sides of his head. His hair was wet with it as well. I breathed in, letting the shuriken fly again. I rubbed my wrist. Grayson watched me, panting harder. “I think we’ve lost somebody.”

“What?” I asked.

“Jackson tried to call us, but our signals broke,” he told me. “I called Alex, who was with Jackson at the time, and…well, he said that things weren’t going too well. That was why Brendan and I sent everybody from our group but us to help them out. I already called Eli, but he hasn’t shown up yet.”

“So you are saying that the situation does not look to be in our favor?” I answered, catching the metal star in mid-air. The cronies had all melted back into the light green fissure that they’d been born from. Brendan took refuge behind the brick, re-loading his gun. His eyes met mine. “I’m going to check on Maria and her group,” he said. “If I do not come back…” He shrugged. “Do something.” With that, he dashed off.

Grayson and I stared at each other for a moment. Then he rose. “I should head off to Jackson and everybody else…”

“I will go after Brendan, then,” I said. “Try and contact Grace through telepathy. Tell her to contact Eli and tell him to get his butt over here; we need all the help we can get!”

“Right.” He cocked his gun, hastily glancing my way. “See you later.”

With that, his tall frame disappeared into the smoke.

I stared after him for a moment, praying that he would come back. After all, he was the good-natured one in the group that could focus on battle and encourage everyone else to keep their hopes up whenever things looked bad at the same time. He was also a brave soul, and had really opened up in the past year.

I smiled, praying again for him. Then I, too, raced into the haze.

My lungs were punctured with impure oxygen as I blundered my way past fallen chunks of ceiling, brick, plaster, and other inanimate sports objects. I paused in my mad dash, putting my hands on my knees and breathing hard. My eyes drooped again, but I slapped myself numerous times in an attempt to keep me awake.

At that time, shouted orders from a very familiar voice came to my ears. I turned in that direction, breaking through the smoke. I staggered back almost immediately.

The Serpent’s gargantuan, lime green body towered above me, all of it nearly as thick as an elephant’s body. The head itself could easily be mistook to be a green leaf—except for the fact that it had red eyes, a forked tongue, and was nearly the size of Grace’s convertible. The body itself was taller than the Empire State Building; that much I was sure of.

The red eyes met mine. For a moment I thought of my vision back at Le Pizzeria and what the red eyes held behind the lenses was the same as they had held in the vision: death. It hissed, forked tongue trembling in the air. Fangs the size of cars peeked from its lips. Yellow scales tumbled down its giant belly. The parts touching the ground were dirtied, now looking like the color of rotten lemons.

I took in the rest of my surroundings. Maria, Hunter, Jordan, and Amrin cast elemental balls of deathly energy at the Serpent’s body; all the orbs stuck to the scales, exploding in an array of colorful and magical fireworks. Brendan was shooting his machine gun at its eyes, while Gabbie hacked at the Serpent near the belly with her double-sided daggers. She also landed a few kicks every now and then, coating the soles of her shoes with blood. Gritting her teeth, she somersaulted to where Brendan knelt, closing her eyes and taking a breather.

But what had my attention the most was at the Serpent’s tail, slowly rising to its mouth. Entwined inside it lay the limp bodies of Alex and Jackson. I swallowed, knowing what I was going to have to do. I darted to Brendan and Gabbie, whispering my plan to both. They stared at me like I’d just turned into an oversized marshmallow. “That is suicidal!” Gabbie screamed at me. Brendan nodded in consent with her words.

“If we want to save Jackson and Alex, I will have to do it,” I murmured back, peering around the corner. “I’ll be right back.”

“No! Wait!”

But I’d made my decision. Breathing in deep, I sprinted to the end of the Serpent’s body, the part where it touched the ground. I dug my shuriken into the scales—blood spewed from the wound it made, but I had no time to be disgusted with it—and clambered up the side. Crouching on the top, I stared, horrified, as the snake struck. Amrin narrowly dodged it, blowing up a few offensive spells in its face. The Serpent hissed angrily, words coming for the first time out of its mouth.

“You kids are better than I presumed—seems as though I will have to try harder.” Its voice was exactly how it had been in my vision, smooth and gentle with a tint of malice. It roared, striking rapidly, nearly catching Brendan and Jordan with its fangs; both attacked it while the Serpent tried to free its fangs from the ground. Brendan landed three bullets in its right eye, five in its left, and fifteen in one nostril. Gabbie managed to plant her dagger into one of its fangs, poison spewing from the hole she had created. Jordan managed to petrify its tongue, leaving the Serpent half-blind.

By that time I’d begun scaling the side of the Serpent, digging in my shuriken into the scales to help me climb. Blood spewed everywhere, but the snake never seemed any less strong than it might’ve been at the beginning. I was halfway up already, almost eye-level with Jackson and Alex. Alex’s hand was twitching, and I realized with a jolt that he was beginning to gain consciousness. I had to make this quick.

I let my shuriken bite into the Serpent’s scales again. Blood dripped down my arm, oozing grossly past my sleeve, which was at my elbow. I stuck my tongue out in disgust, continuing my frantic climb. The scales around the head were thicker here, making it harder to puncture the skin. But Brendan had made it so the spikes couldn’t be dulled, and if that ever happened, it was only because he willed it. Which was true.

Finally, I was quite a few feet above the Serpent’s tail. Breathing in, I let myself hang from the topmost spike, where it dug into the Serpent’s skin. I gripped as hard as my hand would allow. I swung back and forth, hoping to gain some momentum for what I had planned. At the arc of my final swing, I let my shuriken free, dragging it down with me as my body dangled in mid-air, arguing with the gravity that threatened to take me to the ground…

My feet scrabbled past landing point—now I was in free-fall. In one last attempt to succeed, I aimed my shuriken at the tail, falling past it. My beloved weapon hit home, digging in farther than ever.

The Serpent screamed a monstrous sound that made my eardrums explode with pain. I placed my hands over them in despair, making my fall much faster. I was headfirst in the air now—there was no telling if I would survive or not.

Gingerly, I took my hands from my ears, using them to cover my head instead. I closed my eyes, squeezing the lids tight shut. Please don’t let me die, please don’t let me die, I prayed. I felt a rumble in my chest and something huge thumped to the ground—opening my left eye just a sliver, I found out with a smirk of triumph that it was indeed the tail, or a giant chunk of it. Whichever was fine.

My eyes were open fully now. The air whizzed past me with incredible speed, making my eyes water. I sighed, knowing now that the time would come—and it would come soon—when I would hit ground and surely die. I shut my eyes again at this inevitable conclusion.

I was surprised that instead of hard rock I crashed into skin, into strong muscle—the scent was all too familiar. I breathed hard, in and out, in and out, hyperventilating at my luck. Eli held me securely in his arms, dancing away from the complaining tail of the Serpent. His nimble feet barely skimmed the ground with his agility. The snake screamed again in agony, and if it weren’t so monstrous I would have felt sorry for it. Jordan, Amrin, Hunter, and Maria all directed their attacks at it, knowing that I had found the weakest point. The snake writhed in agony, roaring again and again as each magical ball collided with the open and bleeding tail tip. The Serpent screeched even louder as Maria hurled a huge ball of hers and Jordan’s magic combined at the tail. I was sure that I would be deaf after this predicament.

“Are you okay?” I could barely hear Eli’s voice above the Serpent’s complaints.

“I should be…” I murmured, digging my face deeper into his shirt. Rocks skittered past us, one hitting me in the back and knocking my breath out. I breathed harder now, panting tiredly.

“Fall back!” I heard Amrin’s magnified voice pierce through the screams. Feet thumped behind us as Eli ran towards the caved-in part of Scheels. There, Grace, Elizabeth, Aimee, Lyndi, Jordan, Madison, Riley, Zach, Katie, and Spencer stood, all looking worse for wear.

But Grace held a limp body that I thought I shouldn’t see.

“No,” I whispered, eyes widening. “NO!” I shrieked, practically jumping from Eli’s arms. “NO, NO, NO, NO, NO!”

“I’m afraid so, Rebecca,” Grace whispered, tears glistening in her eyes. She glanced down at what she so effortlessly held in her tender hands. “I don’t know if we can save him.”

“THERE HAS TO BE A WAY!” Tears unwillingly burbled past my eyelids. I turned to Jordan, Amrin, Hunter and Maria. “Can’t you guys do SOMETHING?!” I screamed at them. None of them answered. They all looked helpless, their eyes huge with fear at my panicking. My hands balled into fists, and I wanted desperately to punch somebody. I gritted my teeth. Eli took action for the second time that night. “Get him to headquarters, quickly!”

“Right,” Grace agreed, dashing to her Convertible. Tyler and Ryan tailed close behind her, while Madi, Elizabeth, and Zach all stared helplessly at me. Madison and Eliz turned, running after Grace. However, Zach remained where he stood. “Rebecca…” Zach started to say, his hand reaching out in comfort.

“SHUT UP! SHUT UP, SHUT UP, SHUT UP!” I yelled at him, although he didn’t deserve it. Zach snapped his hand away, backing off about three steps. My rage overpowered my exhaustion. “I—I need to breathe,” I whispered, pursing my lips as I charged from the wreckage, sobs wracking my body as I ran.

Why was life so unfair?